Blosson End Rot

[Shellie]

I have a young tomato (still small and green) on my San Marzano bush that obviously has blossom end rot. Should I remove it right away? My inclination is to remove it but I want to make sure it's the right thing to do. Thanks!!

[Ruthiegirl]

I have a terrible time with blossom end rot in my tomatoes. Frustratingly, it is nonparasitic -- meaning that it has no insect/fungal/bacterial causes. It is caused by a lack of calcium and is made much worse by under/over watering.

This is my year to concur blossom end rot. I did a lime application last fall and I have added a mess of compost and have been fertilizing with fish emulsion to improve soil composition.

At this point, I would suggest fertilizing and picking off the fruit with the rot spots. Fruit that is all ready damaged cannot be saved, but you will get new fruit and the trick is to save the future fruit.

Great article:

http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/ho...ossom-rot.html

Good luck!

[Shellie]

Thanks for that link! I was actually surprised as I've only read about it and grew a slew of tomatoes last year and never saw it. This plant came from Costco already kind of overgrown for its tiny pot and in soil that doesn't look very rich. I'm going to move it into something better but it's already so huge I've been afraid. I'm going to try to get it into some compost-rich mix and hope it stops happening. Our summer tomato season is really short...so if this batch all ends up rotted, it won't have much time to set more fruit.

[goldfinches]

The year my tomatoes got it was the year I grew them in 5 gallon buckets. I didn't keep them at a constant moisture level, they would dry out, get watered, get really dry, then really wet, etc. It was a sad year...

[Shellie]

Uh oh, I just moved my San Marzano into a 5 gal. bucket and all my toms are in big pots. I'm wondering if I should give up some bed space for them...